Zimbabwe’s power sharing agreement on shaky ground

The BBC News has a report on the power sharing agreement in Zimbabwe between long-term dictator Robert Mugabe and recently installed Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai. The two are at odds over the future of Mugabe’s long-term policy of redistributing white-owned farms to the black population. The continuation of this policy, often blamed for the disastrous failure of Zimbabwe’s traditionally strong agriculture industry, was an instrumental part of the original power sharing agreement. Recently, however, Tsvangirai has signaled his objection to the way in which the policy is being implemented and has threatened arrests for individuals who invade farms.

“This government is aware that most of the ongoing disruptions of agricultural production, which are being done in the name of the land reform process, are actually acts of theft,” Mr Tsvangirai told a meeting of diplomats, civic society and business leaders…

Tsvangirai, it should be noted, recently lost his wife in a car accident. Given Mugabe’s history of violence directed at political opposition, there has naturally been some suspicion about the origin of the crash. To date, no credible allegations of criminality have been made.